Scale.



B. W. KING.

SCALE.

APPLIOATION FILED M1129, 1912.

www )WO-@M7 r ,TBC/Nv 06u/M MNIMA/Ey L Patented July 29, 1913.

B. W. KING.

SCALE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 29.01912. 1,068,504., Patented July 29, 1913.

2 SHEBTSWSHEET 2.

3 g 2q 30 'l :LMI-vih g a E v rw IPB" UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEIoEe BERT W. KING, 0F DETROIT, MICHIGN, ASSIQNOR TO STANDARD COMPUTING SCALE COMPANY, 0F DETROIT, MICHIGAN, CCBPORATION 0FMICHICiA-N'r SCALE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patent-ed Jui-y 29, 119131.

To all whom, -e' may concer-n:

Be it known that I, BERT 7. KTNG, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Detroit, in the county of Vay-ne andi' State of Michigan, have invented a new and useful Scale, of which the following is a: specilication.

'Ihis invention relates tcmeans for illumi` nating the indicating -devices of weighing.`

scales, and its object is to provide mechanism for such purpose which shalhbe simple in construction, Which may be attached to the same, and a pair of electric contacts in said circuit which arenormally separatem.

which shall bebrought togethen Whenever a weight exceeding' a predetermined. amount shall be placed on thev load-receiving p0r-V tiono the scale.

It furtherconsists in combination W-itlrthe main base or frame of the scale,- o. yielding means for supportingoneedge of. saidfhase4 or framervw'hich means normally hold theeleotnic contacts ofa lighting;` circuit separrated; and which meanswill.beovercome-by the placing ofalpredetenmined Weight upon the load-receiving portion. ot the scale-and which.r will. then permit the-engagement ofl the'electriccontaots sofas to complete-the'cii`l cuit to anfelectriic lamp, properly positimed.P with.. reference to theI indicating mechanism ofthescale.

In theiaccompanying; drawings Figure 1- isY a vertical, transverse section ot the hase,

column. and. upper cylinder off acomputing. scale, the levers and parts attached theretobeing shown inl theelevation. Figi 2 is` al diagram of electric cirouitswhich, may heA ig. 4 is ai botomplan. of the lever 'View similar to Fig. 3 ofv still another modification-of the platform-'supporting and oircilit-controlled mechanism. Fi g. 10 is a-view of still another modification. y

Similar reference characters refer to like parts throughout the several views.'Vv While the construction of the scale shown 1n.. F ig. 1 is similar' to that shown inthe former Patent No. 923,530, dated June 1, 1909, and in the Design Patent No. 40,157, dated-July 20, 1909, this present invention is not limited in its use to-that particular type oig scale, but may be used in connection with scales of any desired construction.

Itis often desir-able to illuminate the indi .eating mechanism of Weighing' scales, `par.-

ticulanlythose of the computing type, durf ing thee-time that the scale is-heing-,usedgand' it is Ialso generally desirable to extinguish the'light when the scale is not in use. It has previously been` suggested that suchr illuminating dev-ice'be controlled by a switch connected to or operated by mechanisml ccnnected direetlg;I to the weighingv levers, but

suehlconstnuctionfhas not beenound entirely satisfactory, for the reason, that some force is required; to actuate the switch or other mechanism `which controls thel electric circuit, and as a result, the scale does notI Weigh correctly.l by reason o'such mechanism. In

the. present construction, an .electniclcircuit' .fon andncandescent lamp is illustrated and! means: are shown.` for closing.- ad opening this circuit Without interfering in anyman-v ner. with! the Weighing mechanism. of' the scale. In all the' different modifications, a pair of contacts areshown, which are heldf separate byl a. spring or, weight, and which.

rated.

In-Figs. 1x and @the-scale base 11 is shownv rformed with. tapering bearings to receivethepointed ends of the screws 9, similar'toA the screws shown in Figs.' A lever 10 is expanded? to form a ring 11, which carries the screws 9, and; its front end presses upflflo i are caused. to engage Whenever, the base of, thsscaleispressed down against the Weight yor springv Which` holds these contactssepaics,

against an adjustable screw 12 carried by the base 1. The rear end of this lever 10 carries a contact 14 which is normally spaced from the insulated contact 15 on lthe base 1. So long as there is no weight on the scale plat-V form 16, the spring 5 will hold the front edge of the base up away from the table upon which the scale is supported, and at the same time the contacts 14 and 15 will be held apart. But as soon as a weight of predetermined amount is placed upvon the platform 16, the spring 5 will be compressed enough farther to permit the contacts 14 and 15 t-o engage. Under normal circumstances, this additional weight need be no more than about one-half of one per cent. of the capacel ity of the scale.

In Fig. 1 a column 17 is shown extending up from the base 1 and supporting a cylindrical case 18, in which the indicating drum 19 is revolubleas explained and shown in the former patents above mentioned. This case 18 is supplied with openings which are bridged by lenses 20 and 21, and the electric lights 22 and 23 may be mounted just above these openings and provided with reflectors 24 and 25. A guard 26 may extend down from the top of the cylinder to each reflector and constitute a conduit for the electric wires to the lamps 22a-nd 23. The circuit wires 29 and 3() connect respectively the contacts 14 and 15, and while the Wire 29 con nects tothe lamp 22, the other wire 30 connects to the line wire 31. A wire 32 coni nects the lamp 22andthe line wire 33. These circuits are shown diagrammatically in Fig. 2. It will be readily seen that the lamp 23 may also be connected to linewires in similar manner.

In Fig. 2, a construction is illustrated for automatically opening and closing the circuit to the lamp 23, at frequent intervals, so as to cause .the lamp 23 to twinkle or Hash, for the purpose of attracting attention to that side of the scale, which'will usually be toward the customer. A switch 34 is of the usual construction for such purpose, and connects to'the line wire 31 by means of the wire 35, and to the lamp 23 by means of a wire 36. The wire 37 connects the lamp 23 to the line wire Any other desired circuits may be employed between the contacts 14 and 15, the line wires 31 and 32` and the lamps 22 and 23, and while either of the lamps may be omitted if desired, it will be readily seen that either may also be duplicated. The particular circuits and method of mounting the electric `lamps form no part of this invention, and a good mechanic can devise a number of different circuits and mountings for the lamps. Preferably, an electric socket 39 will be mounted on the top of the case 18, but it will be readily seen that it may be mounted at any other point on the scale, or even omitted entirely.

l described.

In place of the spring 5 shown in Fig. 6, a weight 40, shown in Figs. 3 and 4, may be mounted on the arm 10 of the lever, which weight will be'suiiiciently heavy and 'properly positioned to hold up the `Jfront edge of the base 1 until a load is placed ou the platform 16. The other details of construction shown in Figs. 3 and 4 a re similar to those shown in Figs. 1 and 6.

In Fig. 5 is shown a pedestal which may be employed to support the rear or column end of the base 1, two, one on each side, being employed. A lug 42 on the lower side ofthe upper plate 41 of the base is threaded to receive the adjustable screw 43. vA foot 44. is formed with a.` socket to receive the conical' point 45 on this screw. A cap 46, provided With small pins 47, closes the upper end of the bore in which the screw is adjustably mounted. IVhile Fig. 6shows a coil sp'ring 5, it will be apparent that this invention is not limited to the coil springs and levers shown in Figs. 1 and 6, or the counterweight shown in Figs. 3 and 4. In Figs. 7 and 8 the lever 50 is shown mounted between the conical points of.the screws 51, which are carried by This foot is mounted on a flat spring 53 secured to the bottom of the up'- per plate 41 ofthe base. An adjustable screw 12 is in engagement with the 'frontor sho-rt arm of this `lever 50. A boss 54 is.

shown projecting down from the plate 41 for the purpose of engaging the foot 52 and spring and thus limit the downward movement ol the base. The levers 50 and 10 can be made light and resilient so that after the contact 14 on their outer ends engages thecontact 15 on the base, the lever will yield until the boss 54'rests on the foot 52, or until the sleeve 3 engages the table upon which the scale rests.

In Fig. 9 the rear end of the base 56 is shown provided with a saddle 57 which rests on the pivot 58. The front end of the basel is provided with a sleeve 59 in which a foot 60 is slidable, but is normally held outward by means of the spring 61. The contact 62 is mounted on the plate 63 of the basev and insulated therefrom. An arm 64 may be employed to properly position the support 65 with reference to the saddle57. Vhen thc base is forced downward against the tension of the spring` 61 by reason of a load being placed upon the platform, the contact 62 will engagethe front end of the arm 64 and the front end of the base will then be carried by the support 65. As th'e circuit `wire 66 connects to the arm 64,'and the other circuit wire 67 connects to the contact 62, an engagement between the arm V64 and the contact 62 will close the circuit-to` the electric lamp in the same manner as before In Fig. 10 is shown a device which may brey employed to close the -electric circuit above referred to. In this case, the 'base 1 is fqrmed with a socket 70 in-which is slidable the foot 71,'being held out by means of the-spring 72. A screw 73 is connected to the foot 7l`.and is movable inthe slot 74 and limits the movementof the `foot in the sleeve. A screw 75 supports an insulating sleeve 7 6, upon which is mounted Va Contact ring v77 to which' a circuit wire 78 is connected. A small bracket 79 is connected to but insulated from the'sleeve 70. A line wire 8O connects to this bracket and the contact screw 81, which will' engage the ring 77 and close the circuit whenever 'the load on the base 1 suiiiciently compresses 4the spring 7 2.

Many other modifications may be designed to accomplish the purpose iirst set forth in this specification. yIn all the modilications shown in the drawings and above described, resilient means have been provided to yieldably support one portion of the scale base in such a manner as to hold apart two contacts of an electric circuit, which means are so constructed that the resistance will be overcome by a predetermined. additional load on the scale. As a result, whenever a predetermined load is placed upon the platform ofthe scale, receiving device may be employed, an additional pressure is transmitted to the base and by it to the contact-controlling devices. As the load on the platform remains in place during the weighing operation, the electric circuits to the illuminating devices will be v kept closed so long as' the scale is in use, and

lwill be vthing is placed upon opened immediately when the weighing is completed. As the base will assume its proper position immediately when anythe load-receiver, the

operation of the scale will not be affected in any manner by the addition of the improvedv circuit-closing described.

I claim 1. In an illuminating device for'the indicating mechanism of 'a weighing scale, the combination of rigid and yieldable'supports device .above illustrated and for the base of the scale onfopposite sides' ot' the center of gravity of the scale, an electric lamp mounted adjacent rthe indicating mechanism of the scale, electric circuits connecting said lamp and a current source, a

lever mounted on a stationary pivot and having one end in engagement with the base of the scale adjacent the ymovable support for the scale, and a circuit closing device connected to the opposite end of the lever 6o and rendered operative when the scale is depressed by a load.

2. In an illuminating device for the indieating mechanism of a weighing scale, the combination of an electric lamp mounted adjacent the weight indicator, means to yieldspring in said or whatever other load'-y ably support one portion 'of the 'base off the scale comprising a'sleeve connected to said base, a tout slidable in said sleeve and `la sleeve to'normally hold the 'foot outward, a lever mounted intermediate its ends on said toot and having one en yengaging saidv base, an electric contact mountedon the opposite end of said lever, a second Contact mounted on the base, and electric 'circuits between said contacts and said lamp over which a current may flow to said lamp whenever the base engaging endfcf-'the lever is depressed-sutiiciently by aload to cause the contacts to engage.

.3. In an` illumina-ting device for' the indieatingx mechanism of a weighing scale, the -combination of an electric lampv mounted adjacent the weight indicator`ot the scale, means to yieldably lsupport one portion of the base of the scale comprising a 'sleeve mounted on the base, a foot slidable in said sleeve, a lever mounted `intermediate its ends on said'foot and having one end engaging said base, means for resisting the weight of the base, an electric contact .mounted on the free end of the lever, a second contact mounted on the base, and

'electric circuits between said contacts and 'said lamp whereby a current is conducted to said lamp whenever the base isdepressed i sufficiently by aload to cause the contacts to engage. v

4. In an illuminating device for the indicating mechanism of a weighing scale, the combination of a sleeve mounted on the base,

a footv slidable therein, a lever mounted. in-

termediate its ends on said foot and having l .one end engaging said base, an electric. con- -tact mounted on the free end of thelever,

a second contact mounted on the base, means to resist the downward pressure of said base, electric wires connecting to said contacts, which' contacts will engage when additional weight is added to that of the base, and an electric lamp connecting to said wires and a current source and mounted adjacent the weight indicator. l

5. In an illuminating device for the indieating mechanism of a weighing scale, the

combination of a sleeve mounted on the base of the scale, a foot slidable therein, a pair of electric contacts, and a spring engaging said foot to resist the downward `pressure ofthe base and prevent the contacts engaging until additional weight is placed upon the base, an electric lamp mounted adjacent the weight indicator of the scale, and

electric connections between the contacts,

the lamp, and a current source.v

6. In an illuminating device for the indieating .mechanism of a weighing scale, the combination of yieldable and unyieldable supports for the scale, a pair of electric contacts normallyl held apart by the yieldable supporting device, an electric lamp mounted adjacent 'the weight indicator of the scale,

and electric circuits between the contacts and the lamp whereby a current is ,conducted to energize the lamp whenever the yieldable supporting device of said base permits the contacts to engage.

7. In an illuminating device for the indicating mechanism of a weighing scale, the

combination of aspring beneath the base of the scale adapted to be partially compressed by the base when no load is on the Scale, a pair of contacts normally held separated by said spring, an electric lamp to illuminate the scale, and. electric circuits connecting to said contacts and lamp over which a current will fiow during the time a load on the scale is of suicient Weight to give enough added compression to said spring to cause it to permit the contacts to engage.

In testimony whereof] have signed this specification in the presence of two sub- BERT W. KING.

-scribing witnesses.

fitnesses J. M. BUGHER, L. JAENICHEN. 

